Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco met with some members of the New England Patriots' minutemen militia after losing the season opener 38-24.

Ochocinco said he wanted to tell the minutemen his preseason pledge to shoot one of their muskets after scoring a TD (which he didn't follow through on) was all in good fun.

"I was just saying hello to them," Ochocinco told The Boston Globe. "We talked about the thing with the musket and all that. But just letting them know -- no disrespect in any way. And just saying hello to them at the end, that's all."

Minuteman Neil Dixon told USA TODAY the members of the militia told Ochocinco they couldn't allow him to borrow a gun for "safety reasons."

But another militia member had a more stern warning for Ochocinco in the pregame.

"Let him try to pry this gun from my cold, meaningful hands," the unidentified militia member told the Globe. "We're Patriots, we don't give up our weapons."